In case he still doesn't get it, white males are tired of being dumped on, fleeced, blamed, ridiculed and scorned "just," as the song goes, "for being what we are."

So what if we read Tom Clancy. Is that a sin? So what if we like stock-car racing. Where's the harm? So what if we listen to and watch Rush Limbaugh. I thought that was our privilege in a free society.

So what if we go to Steven Seagal movies, monster-truck rallies and listen to Elvis or heavy metal. This country is supposed to be about nurturing diversity.

What we white males voted about was the liberals being liberal with our blood and money -- the idea that our lives and earnings were somehow the property of government and that we were obliged to approve of and support government activities, many of which were of unproved effectiveness or, worse, were actually counter to and destructive of the most fundamental of our values -- the very values that produce the stability that enables the liberals' experimentation and the wealth that they so self-righteously redistribute.

We, white Limbaugh-loving males, are not mean-spirited. We have always supported government and private programs to help those who need help.

What we object to is the crazy broadening of the definition of "those who need help" so that, for instance, drug-addicts and drunks are classed as "disabled" and so siphon off huge amounts of assistance that was originally intended for the physically handicapped.

We are skeptical and even mildly distrustful of a government that actually believes that disarming its law-abiding citizens will somehow also disarm criminals.

We do understand the National Rifle Association's concern, and we are glad that it is vigorous and well organized and financed to represent our distrust and skepticism.

We object to the liberals' idea that our children are some kind of public resource to be used by government to redress social inequalities, for instance school busing to achieve someone's idea of an "optimal" racial or ethnic mix.

These are the kinds of things that produced the 1994 election "revolution."

The "culture" and "values and icons" of white males may amuse and divert such as Mr. Page, but it is snobs like him who need to "wake up and smell the coffee."

Why is it so scary for him that white males will no longer consort to be ignored, marginalized, scorned, demonized and exploited? other group does; why should we?

Rich Walter

Columbia

Clarence Page may be overestimating the actual turnout of "angry while males" on Nov. 8.

Only 39 percent of the total electorate bothered to vote, and 53 percent of these voted Republican.

That's only 20.7 percent of the total electorate -- or about one in five. If 53 percent of GOP voters were white males, that would be a shade over 11 percent of all potential voters -- or just a little over one out of ten eligible voters.

Mr. Page suggests Clinton and other Democrats will have to concentrate on winning over some of those 11 percent, the angry whining white males, but the facts suggest a more appropriate target than this agitated minority would be the 61 percent who avoided the polls on Nov. 8.

Two news stories in that same issue suggest a strategy for the president and other shellshocked Democrats.

One was a report that most college students regard themselves as liberals, albeit with a concern over "coddling" criminals rather than "hard boiling" them, and the other was a report how a supposedly "tough on crime" three-strikes-and-you're-out law has swamped the courts and prisons with minor offenders and as a result authorities don't even bother to prosecute a lot of minor offenders.

Do you think college students and even general citizens could get the message that posturing on crime won't cut it, and that politicians who voted for these "tough" measures knew perfectly well they would not, in fact, reduce crime?

I would like to see some analysis of that apathetic 61 percent who didn't bother to vote because they hold the keys to the future.

Warren W. Morse

! Chincoteague, Va.

County Government Failed Sparks School

It is notable that the Baltimore County government was the only entity not to receive applause in the meeting of Sparks Elementary School when kudos were offered to those who are helping Sparks most in this crisis.

The physical plant at Sparks had been neglected for years by the county, especially in its recent zeal to make the new Jacksonville Elementary School a showplace.

Sparks parents know that the electrical system wasn't adequate to allow use of the computer lab installed in September, and the county had yet to commit to a date to have it brought up to standard.